Sydney-KL MAS flight diverted due to technical difficulties

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH122 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was diverted to Alice Springs Airport, Australia yesterday after facing technical difficulties.

MAS in a statement yesterday said the A330-300 aircraft departed Sydney at 1.06 pm and experienced a technical fault on one of engines and landed safely in Alice Springs Airport at 5.48 pm.

“Safety was not at any time compromised and the commanding captain decided to divert the flight for technical assistance,” it said.

The statement said the passengers would be transferred from Alice Springs to Kuala Lumpur on flight MH148 today (Jan 19).

“The flight is scheduled to depart Alice Springs at 5.45 pm (local time) and is expected to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 9.50 pm the same day.

“All affected passengers have been given hotel accommodation, meals and transportation,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, news.com.au reported passengers on board Flight MH122 expressing their fears on social media, with one tweeting that there was no announcement for 15 minutes after the plane's engine started to make a loud and disturbing noise.

“#malaysian airlines #mh122. Emergency landing at Alice Springs. The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous n clueless. For around 15 mins, there was no announcement.15 mins were as long as 15 hours!” Sanjeev Pandey tweeted.

Another news website, ABC. net.au, quoted the husband of a passenger onboard as saying his wife had described the experience as “hell”.

Chin Kanani said his wife became alarmed when she heard a banging sound.

“She said she was in the loo when she started hearing loud banging noises from the righthand side of the plane and that's when all of it started,” Kanani said.

The news portal said there were around 200 passengers onboard the flight at the time.

The portal quoted another passenger, Mohamad Zogheib, 17, as saying it was a “terrifying” experience.

“The pilot was on the loud speaker saying we've got to make an emergency landing,” he said.

“Then we got another call a bit later from the pilot saying we were landing in Alice Springs and so that would be another hour and a half on the plane.”